Meditations #4

 
Image credit: copyright Christopher Reiger, 2012

Platte Clove Residency: Some Remove

Plattekill Falls; Platte Clove Nature Preserve;
Catskills; NY; July 2012

On the first afternoon of my residency at Platte Clove, after settling into the cabin and familiarizing myself with local trail maps, I decided to explore a short path that begins a few steps from the cabin's porch and winds its way down one of the valley's uppermost gorges to Plattekill Falls. It was a lovely reintroduction to the Catskills. Late afternoon sunlight filtered through the mixed forest's overstory, unevenly illuminating a floor decorated with eastern hemlock cones. Hidden from view in the canopy above, red-eyed vireos ceaselessly repeated their lilting questions.

Platte Clove Residency: Report

Platte Clove cabin; Platte Clove Nature Preserve;
Catskills; NY; July 2012

It was much too short a stay, but my residency at the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development's Platte Clove cabin was otherwise terrific. In the coming weeks, I'll post photographs and a number of short essays about my time there. Some of the experiences I'll share with readers provided quality grist for the art mill, and I expect to begin work on new pictures soon.

As a side note, I'm grateful for the generosity of Jeremiah Teipen and Eun Young Choi, artist friends of mine who graciously lent me their car for the drive from New York City to Platte Clove (and back), and for the thoughtfulness of Katie Palm, CCCD Education Director, who went above and beyond in her role as the coordinator of the residency program. Thank you!

View from Sherman's Point; Devil's Path Trail;
Catskills; NY; July 2012

Image credits: all photos, Christopher Reiger, 2012

Platte Clove Residency: Prologue

Platte Clove residency cabin, Catskills Mountains

Early this coming Wednesday morning, I'll land at New York City's JFK airport, borrow a car from friends, and drive north to an attractive cabin located in Platte Clove, a valley at the eastern edge of the Catskill Mountains that was etched by glacial meltwater at the end of the last Ice Age. Each summer, the mountain side cabin is home to a revolving door of visual artists, writers, composers, and ecologists selected by the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development's Platte Clove Residency team. I'm honored to be one of the Platte Clove 2012 Artists-In-Residence.

Denise Bibro "Summer Show"

Christopher Reiger
"Cost Benefit Analysis"
2008
Pen and sumi ink, gouache, watercolor and marker on Arches paper
12 x 12 inches

Several of my 2008 and 2009 works are included in Denise Bibro Fine Art's "Summer Show," a group exhibition featuring paintings, mixed media works, photographs, and sculptures by 12 artists.

"Summer Show" runs from July 10-August 25, 2012. More information can be found here.

"Giving Witness"

Common Snapping Turtle; Main Road; Everglades National Park; October 2011

I originally posted the above photograph of a common snapping turtle at the edge of the main road in Everglades National Park in October 2011, while I was an AIRIE program participant.

I thought of the turtle portrait when I read Ted Levin's informative and compelling "The Staying Power of Snapping Turtles," published in the March/April 2012 issue of Audubon Magazine.

The selection below emphasizes the fact that Chelydra serpentina is an elder member of our extended fauna family.

"The snapping turtle family, Chelydridae, evolved in North America and has haunted our wetlands almost unchanged for nearly 90 million years. Ancestors spread to Eurasia about 40 million years ago and then disappeared from that continent in the late Pliocene, about two million years ago. Chelydrids have been sequestered in the Western Hemisphere ever since, which makes them among our truest and oldest turtles. They were present when dinosaurs lived and died, and had been laying round, white, leathery eggs in sandy loam and glacial till for millions of years when the first Amerindians wandered over the Bering Land Bridge. Snapping turtles have witnessed the drift of continents, the birth of islands, the drowning of coastlines, the rise and fall of mountain ranges, the spread of prairies and deserts, the comings and goings of glaciers."

When I think in terms of the life of a species (rather than that of an individual representative), my pulse slows and I'm suddenly calm....and deeply appreciative to be a part of so grand an experience.

Photo credit: Hungry Hyaena (Christopher Reiger), 2011

BAASICS.2 : The Future

In November of last year, I announced that artist-curator Selene Foster and I received a Southern Exposure Alternative Exposure Grant award for our Bay Area Art & Science Interdisciplinary Collaborative Sessions (BAASICS) proposal. Since that time, we've been working on the upcoming program, "BAASICS.2: The Future."

Last July, the first BAASICS event was met with great enthusiasm and much fanfare, so we committed to curating and producing a series of these art/science extravaganzas, each program featuring exciting artists, performers, and scientists from the Bay Area. (Click here to read more about the thinking behind BAASICS.)

Even if you're not based in the region, a general interest in the arts-science interface is reason enough to follow BAASICS. We aim to balance an ambitious agenda with good fun, and believe that BAASICS is blossoming into something truly special.

More details will follow soon, but I invite you to follow BAASICS in the following ways:

"BAASICS.2: The Future," will take place on Monday, June 18, at San Francisco's ODC Theater, with a reception to follow at Root Division, an arts and arts education organization located immediately next to the theater. Other than saving the date, there are other more "current" ways of joining in on the fun.

- Visit the BAASICS website!

- Follow BAASICS on Twitter! @baasics_sf

- Join our BAASICS Meetup group!

- Last but not least, you can like BAASICS on Facebook!

Image credit: rocket by Selene Foster, 2012

Mid-March Update

I haven't been writing much this month and HH has been quiet. I've been happily preoccupied with BAASICS preparation, studio work, and other commitments. Next week, I'll travel to California State University, Long Beach to present a lecture on ethics and contemporary art-making, which should be a lot of fun.

Below, you'll find a recent drawing which was included in "In a Landscape Where Nothing Officially Exists," a group show/event that took place on Saturday, February 25, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. For the exhibition/event, eight artists and one biologist collaborated to create 35 art works representing 35 endangered species living in and around southern California. The works were installed as part of "Un-Space Ground," a site-specific, outdoor visual & performance art event curated and produced by Ed Woodham, founder & director of Art in Odd Places, and Deborah Oliver, a Los Angeles-based curator, as part of ARTspace's "Art in the Public Realm" Symposia at the College Art Association Annual Meeting.

Christopher Reiger
"then and then (San Bernardino Kangaroo Rat)"
2012
Gouache, watercolor, marker, and sumi ink on Arches paper
15 x 18 inches

Image credit: Christopher Reiger, 2012